BRIKWARS is the plastic-brick tabletop wargame that throws the peaceful worlds of construction toys into wanton mayhem!

Bring and build your own armies, vehicles, and monsters in an all-out war for deconstruction toy glory, with a robust system to incorporate whatever you create. If you can build it, you can bring it to battle in BRIKWARS!
Version History

BrikWars has evolved steadily since its conception in the second half of 1995, and it’s interesting to compare the several versions to see what was changed, what was added, and what was ruthlessly eliminated.  Here, in reverse chronological order, are the most significant incarnations of BrikWars to date.

BrikWars 2005

The Dread Pirate Two-By-Two

After inflicting the unstoppable power of BrikWars 2001 on everyone for a couple of years, we̢۪ve gotten enough laughs from your screams of pain and suffering. BrikWars 2005 is the more streamlined and elegant edition for faster and easier play. (For all the masochists in the audience, since we know there are plenty, feel free to scroll a little further down and pull as much extra detail as you like from the more exhaustively comprehensive 2001 rules.)

BrikWars 2005 is available online here in live HTML. And now, thanks to a surprise effort from Kolja (“Flashhawk” on the forums), the HTML files have been ripped and cropped into an easy-printing PDF format. Thanks Kolja!

QuikWars (2004)

The Nega-Bloktrix

Like the Mega Blok of wargames, QuikWars is BrikWars̢۪ quicker, simpler alternative, for people who want to spend less time thinking and more time playing. The whole rulebook fits quite nicely onto two pieces of paper, perfect for convention games and first-time players.

But for the full experience, keep scrolling down to BrikWars, below.

BrikWars 2001

The Deadly Spaceman, circa 2001

Thanks to Wayne McCaul for creating updated versions of the 2001 book in print-friendly Acrobat PDF format. You may need to download Adobe̢۪s free Acrobat Reader in order to view and print it.

Otherwise, the rulebook is also available in text format, divided into its major book divisions.

5 / 30 / 2004: After rebalancing, some of the platform and vehicle statistics in Chapter 5 have been changed. Please see the Errata file: 2001-booktwo-errata.txt (6k)

BrikWars
2001 (PDF
)
2001-brikwars.pdf
(1,826k)
Supplement
SP: Supernatural Powers (PDF)

2001-superpowers.pdf
(239k)
BrikWars
2001: Table of Contents

2001-contents.txt
(9k)
Book
Zero: Introduction

2001-bookzero.txt
(60k)
Legal Disclaimer (abridged)
In a Nutshell
Foreword
Introduction
Book
One: Skirmish

2001-bookone.txt
(108k)
The Basic Guide
The Trooper̢۪s Arsenal
Book Two: Battle2001-booktwo.txt
(214k)
Errata
(6k)

Advanced Combat
Interacting with the Environment
Large Targets
Vehicles
Siege Weapons
Book
Three: War
2001-bookthree.txt
(140k)
Standard Combatants
Alternate Species
Book
Four: Campaign

2001-bookfour.txt
(42k)
Campaigning
Supplement
SP: Supernatural Powers

2001-superpowers.txt
(60k)
Download
BrikWars 2001 text

bw2001-txt.zip
(204k)

This version of BrikWars was completed in September 2001, but its release was delayed for several months, to the frustration of players across the globe. What was the reason? Did the authors simply wish to torture their fans? The surprising answer is yes – for one fan in particular, who very nearly had a brain meltdown during the process of failing to obtain the rules.

Once he finally received the rules as promised (although too late to salvage what scraps remained of his sanity), we stalled a few more weeks to let him savor his victory and to give him time to launch his retaliatory strike. But now the waiting is over!

BrikWars 2000 (Summer)

The Buttercup Medium BattleMek

Summer 2000 brought the HTML version of the text that had been released in the Spring. Along with the new format came an additional series of revisions and improvements, making the Spring release obsolete after only a few months.

The Summer revision became well-known for being perpetually incomplete and in fact any hopes of finishing the thing were dashed when all workers were pulled off the 2000 project in order to develop the 2001 update. Chapters Eight through Ten, as well as the SP Supplement, didn̢۪t survive the transition from the Spring text files.

BrikWars
2000 in glorious full-color HTML

Download
BrikWars 2000 HTML
(zip,
808k)

BrikWars 2000 (Spring)

The Deadly Spaceman, circa 2000

Following an upsurge in BrikWars interest following the NELUG games in February, this update introduced a wealth of new material, including the now-infamous Death Sling and the tragically flawed Supernatural Powers supplement.

Wayne McCaul has been almost suspiciously generous in donating his time and expertise in designing, formatting, and producing the first-ever version of BrikWars in the .pdf format. You may need to download Adobe̢۪s free Acrobat Reader in order to view and print it.

Disclaimer bw-dsclm.txt
(4k)
bw-dsclm.doc
(25k)
Chapter Zero: Introduction bw-intro.txt
(20k)
bw-intro.doc
(51k)
Chapter One: The
BrikWars Basic Guide
bw-ch01.txt
(14k)
bw-ch01.doc
(47k)
Chapter Two: The
Troopers̢۪ Arsenal
bw-ch02.txt
(32k)
bw-ch02.doc
(84k)
Chapter Three: Advanced
Combat
bw-ch03.txt
(42k)
bw-ch03.doc
(86k)
Chapter Four:
Vehicles
bw-ch04.txt
(41k)
bw-ch04.doc
(109k)
Chapter Five: Buildings bw-ch05.txt
(11k)
bw-ch05.doc
(40k)
Chapter Six: Siege
Weapons
bw-ch06.txt
(19k)
bw-ch06.doc
(62k)
Chapter Seven: Military
Professionals
bw-ch07.txt
(52k)
bw-ch07.doc
(106k)
Chapter Eight: Irregular
Combatants
bw-ch08.txt
(30k)
bw-ch08.doc
(78k)
Chapter Nine: Civilizations bw-ch09.txt
(68k)
bw-ch09.doc
(186k)
Chapter Ten: Campaigning bw-ch10.txt
(8k)
bw-ch10.doc
(33k)
Supplement RV: Robotic
Vehicles
bw-s-rv.txt
(30k)
bw-s-rv.doc
(79k)
Supplement SP:
Supernatural Powers
bw-s-sp.txt
(46k)
bw-s-sp.doc
(92k)

BrikWars
2000, text format
(zip,
155k)

BrikWars
2000, word format
(zip,
226k)

BrikWars
2000, pdf format
(zip,
820k)

 

BrikWars 1998

Pirates!

On Halloween 1998, we released the first HTML version of BrikWars, hand-illustrated in 16-color pixelated glory. This achievement, the creation of a complete HTML version of BrikWars, was never duplicated before or since.

BrikWars
1998 in semi-glorious 16-color framed HTML

BrikWars 1998
in somewhat-glorious 16-color non-framed HTML

Download BrikWars
1998 HTML
(zip, 280k)

BrikWars I (1995-1996)

The very first edition of what would eventually become BrikWars was written in the waning months of 1995. This text spent a shadowy existence, passing from person to person by photocopies and e-mail for nearly a year, mutating and changing along the way, but staying basically true to (and by ‘true to’ we mean ‘plagiarized from’) its Lego Wars predecessors.  Eventually the game found its first stable Internet home on the web page of an Oregon State University student by the name of Chad Bagaasoc, requiring the assembly of a ‘definitive’ text from the many variations in use at the time. This was accomplished in early 1997, and that text remained in authority for over a year and a half.

BrikWars v1.0: Main
Rules Tome
bw1995.txt
(79k)
BrikWars v1.0: Trooper̢۪s
Handbook
trooper95.txt
(134k)
BrikWars v1.0: The
Tables
tables95.txt
(17k)

Download BrikWars
v1.0
(zip, 87k)

Lego Wars and Lego Wars II

The Original Deadly SpaceMan

Lego Wars (1991) and Lego Wars II (1995), written by two geniuses by the names of Eric O’Dell and R. Todd Ogrin, are not BrikWars editions. The LEGO Group did not give permission to use their registered and trademarked word “LEGO®â€ in the title (see our legal disclaimer).  Misters O’Dell and Ogrin did not give any kind of permission to post their work here. So what possible reason could we have to do so?

BrikWars, in its earliest beginnings, drew so heavily from these sources that it would be no exaggeration to call it a direct plagiarism. This was a lot more innocent than it sounds – for the first few years of its existence BrikWars was not intended as a separate entity but rather a quick-fix edit. In those days the LEGO legal department was particularly rabid and swore grim oaths to destroy any product that used the word “LEGO®â€ without their permission. In order to keep hope alive, a plan was conceived in which the rulebook would continue under a different name (“Butthead-Toy-Company Wars” was suggested at one point).  The original authors were somehow prevented from carrying out their plan, so we took it upon ourselves, replacing each instance of the offending L-word with the more innocuous “Brik.” As time progressed (and new cool pieces and themes were released by the Butthead Toy Company), we made a few idle additions and modifications here and there, but it was long before we really thought to think of BrikWars as having an identity of its own.

‘

And so we are obligated to include Lego Wars and Lego Wars II in our little wargame genealogy, for completeness if nothing else.

Lego
Wars
legowars.txt
(41k)
Lego Wars Supplement:
Medix
medix.txt
(5k)

Download
Lego Wars
(zip, 18k)

Lego Wars II: Main
Rules Tome
mainrule.txt
(63k)
Lego Wars II: Trooper̢۪s
Handbook
troophbk.txt
(53k)
Lego Wars II: The
Tables
tables.txt
(12k)
Diagram:
The Trooper̢۪s Guide to Guns and
Stuff
lw2.gif
(33k)

Download Lego
Wars II
(zip, 78k)